Areas near Athens and the Evros region near the Turkey border are still experiencing uncontrolled fires that have already claimed the lives of 20 people in Greece.
It is suspected that the eighteen individuals who recently crossed the border and were found hiding in the forests north of Alexandroupolis have lost their lives, with indications that they were refugees or migrants.
Greece is very sad about the deaths in the Dadia forest near the Turkish border.
Fires have been burning near the city and along the coast for five days.
Firefighters are working to prevent a fire from spreading on the slopes of Mount Parnitha, which is located to the northwest of Athens.
Their attempts are being stopped by powerful winds that are making the fire grow and very hot temperatures of up to 40C (104F).
The fire service found the victims on Tuesday near a small house outside the village of Avantas, which is located north of Alexandroupolis.
“Sadly, their time in the Dadia forest ended in tragedy,”stated Pavlos Marinakis, a spokesperson for the government. He mentioned that people in the area had raised an alert about their presence and sent emergency evacuation messages using the mobile 112 service.
People who want to go to the European Union may face many dangers, like getting hurt, having their things stolen, getting arrested, being sent back to their country, or dying in the Mediterranean Sea. Now there is also a dangerous situation in northern Greece called a ring of fire.
According to Yiannis Artopios, a spokesperson for the fire service, no one has been reported missing. The people who died are believed to have just crossed the long border between Greece and Turkey along the River Evros.
For many people who are really eager to get to the European Union, the river is the way they can enter and the big forest on the other side helps to hide them.
According to the local coroner Pavlos Pavlidis, all the people who died were males. Out of those, two were underage. Their bodies were discovered in an area within a 500m radius, and some were found near a sheep pen.
Their bodies have been moved to Alexandroupolis to be examined after death. However, it will be hard to recognize these individuals and authorities will require families to step forward.
A man from Syria told the BBC that he is worried his cousin, who is 27 years old, died in the fire because he hasn’t been able to contact him for four days. The cousin was with a group of people from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They all wanted to go through a forest using a popular route.
The person from Syria said they wouldn’t have asked Greek authorities for help, even though they were told to evacuate, because they were scared of being sent back to Turkey.
Greek police have reported that during August, around 900 people per day attempted to cross the border, and several traffickers were taken into custody. People smuggling is a large and illegal industry that involves organized groups of criminals.
Last night, at the Ipsala border crossing, some young men attempted to climb onto a truck that was waiting to enter Greece.
Someone was able to hide by laying down flat on top of something. The rest of the people disappeared into darkness when they were seen.
Many people in the villages near Alexandroupolis are very angry because they think that the fires are being started by migrants who come across the border and hide in the forest before going further inland.
However, there is no proof that migrants caused the fire in the Dadia forest. Earlier this week, the mayor of Alexandroupolis said that the fires were caused by lightning during a storm.
A video was taken in Alexandroupolis that made many people in Greece very upset. It shows a man catching refugees and migrants and putting them in a trailer attached to his car. The man is walking around the trailer and blaming the migrants and refugees for trying to harm Greek people by setting them on fire. Then, he opens the door and inside are a group of scared young men.
The police took the man into custody, along with two other people who are believed to have assisted him. They also said that the video showed that 13 people from Syria and Pakistan were being held against their will, which is against the law.
Additionally, Georgia Adeilini, a top court investigator, is requesting two separate investigations. One will focus on determining what caused the fires in the Evros region, while the other will look into reported cases of racist violence towards migrants that have occurred after the tragic death of 18 individuals in the Dadia forest.
On the other side of the border, in a province called Canakkale in western Turkey, there have been wildfires for two days. Because of this, the government has asked 1,200 people from 11 villages to leave their homes for safety.
On Wednesday, boats were not allowed to travel in the Dardanelles Strait so that helicopters and other aircraft could collect water to fight the fires.
There are still fires happening in the Dadia forest in north-eastern Greece, but the largest area of fire in the Evros region has now moved to the west of Alexandroupolis.
The situation is getting worse for firefighters in the outskirts of Athens. They have evacuated three nursing homes from the town of Menidi.
Houses in Hasia and Fyli, near Mount Parnitha, have been destroyed by fire.
Greek authorities have asked thousands of people in the north-west part of the capital city, Ano Liosia, to leave due to safety concerns. However, many people have chosen to remain instead of evacuating.
